chemo before therepy

That's exactly what I had 4 months of chemo---Surgery, then back to chemo and herceptin. I think it works better for surgery cuz the size of the tumors are so big--I was fine with that decision-but the Drs. made it and I was still fine with their decision. I'm easy. I still had dble masectomy.

My oncologist gave me a choice and I opted for surgery first.  It seemed logical to me, to reduce the tumor load before chemo.  I was going for a BMX so shrinking the tumor before surgery wasn't a concern.  Getting the fast growing alien monster out of me was my main concern.  If you are considering a lumpectomy, then chemo first makes a lot of sense.

I am having 4 months of chemo before surgery, the nice thing about it is being able to tell that the chemo is working. It won't change my surgery type but I can tell that the tumor has shrunk.

Mary625 (btw love your name because my birthday is 6/25!) I had an almost identical experience to you. I had 9-10 cm tumor hat shrank to 7 millimeters (!) and I had 18 positive nodes but just like you my onc said it would have been much worse. Nice to hear someone else had a good response to chemo first. All the best!

Dutchie--our b'day is getting close! I hope you have a great birthday! It's a big birthday for me.

Shellybee, all my specialists at Dana Farber really wanted me to try for breast conservation (lumpectomy) even though I had a 4cm+ tumor (MRI showed larger, ultrasound smaller...we'll never know for sure since it disappeared!).  I had dose dense A/C followed by Taxol.  After A/C the tumor had shrunk considerably, and after Taxol it was no longer visible on my pre-surgery MRI.  My breast surgeon ended up only taking tissue the size of a walnut, and i will know in a week or so about the final pathology.  I may still need a mastectomy if the margins are not clear, but I am glad i gave myself the chance to have the less invasive procedure.  Because of my age, tumor size etc, rads were always going to be in the picture event with mastectomy, so i figure why not save the breast if possible?

When I was diagnosed, I didn't want chemo first, just wanted the cancer out of me as soon as possible.  Then my surgeon helped me understand that the systemic therapy was the most important thing to set in motion as soon as possible, plus we would be able to see if the chemo was working and change chemo types if it wasn't.  That's not possible once the tumor is gone.  She assured me there was no threat from the tumor growing / spreading once chemo was underway, and if there was any sign it was i would go immediately to surgery.

I am now really, really glad i had chemo first.  Feeling the tumor shrinking after each treatment gave me the motivation I needed to get through some of the tough side effects of chemo.  I was also glad to have very little hair to worry about during recovery, so that's another bizarre silver lining!  Regardless of lumpectomy / mastectomy, i think getting the powerful medicine into you as soon as possible to start killing those cancer cells is important.

Wishing you peace and a great outcome with whatever you decide.

That's what I did.  I had a large tumor and IBC, it was a reassurance seeing the IBC leave and feel my tumor soften/shrink.  They got clean margins at my BMX and everything went well.  Best wishes in tx and your decision.

I am having chemo first as well - my BS/MO advocate neoadjuvant chemo not only to shrink the tumor but also so they can see what works as far as the chemo drugs etc...at halfway done, mine had shrunk from 3 cm to 1.6 cm but I am having a BMX regardless due to my age and other reasons.

I had chemo first also.  Even though the chemo made me sick as a dog, it was worth it to see my tumor, which was growing outside my breast and into my chest wall, disappear.  After the first dose of chemo, there was a hugely noticeable difference!  I had one round of TAC, then three more rounds of TC. (I changed oncologists after the first treatment because I almost died from the first one.  New onc did not believe I needed the Adriamycin).  When I had the presurgery MRI there was nothing visible.  Surgery was a lumpectomy, and there was a 1mm cancerous area with positive margins.  Sentinel lymph nodes were negative!  I can't remember the size of the original tumor, but I could see it in the mirror, and there was some palpable under the skin area too.  She could not go in again, b/c of the location at my chest wall, so 35 radiation treatments followed the surgery.  Now I'm on arimidex.  The doctors were telling me that my response to the neoadjuvant chemo was "near complete."  I'm glad I did the chemo first because, as others have said, I could see the results.